New Red Laser Screwed up

Okay, so I have no trouble admitting that I don't have much knowledge on the internals of lasers and maintenance, which is why I have came here for help. I bought a '200mw' laser from Laserpointerpro.com. I am aware they are pretty much a scam site, but for 14 bucks I was curious to see how powerful it really is. It arrived in the mail today after three weeks, only to find that it isn't working :yabbem: . I popped in the 16340 rechargable battery and turned it on, to be given a weak dot probably equivalent to 1mw. Well I had already expected that to happen so I wasn't to dissapointed, but only about 10 seconds after, the laser just.... went to hell. It now gives off a very weird looking beam (I have attached a pic of the beam to the thread, sorry for bad quality). I figured the battery had just died, so I put it on the charger for a few hours. Later I put it back into the laser and turned it back on, still no luck. I honestly don't know what the problem is. Any ideas? Here is the laser on the website: 200mW Professional Red Laser Pointer Suit with 16340 Battery & Charger Black at Laserpointerpro.com
Thanks so much

Pictures:
Beam not from a distance:
http://tinypic.com/r/awf28n/8
Beam from a distance:
http://tinypic.com/r/6eztiv/8

had the same problem. the diode LED'ed (broke) becuase they use open can diodes in these lasers which are super sensitive to dust and anything really, so if something touches the laser diode its game over. those dot pics look really odd, i don't know what to say about them. but sorry to hear that happened.

also, post a welcome thread in the welcome section to introduce yourself, and add your general location to your profile.

So is there any possible way to fix it? If I did some research on laser modules do you think I could install a new diode??

Lasers4Lyfe said:

So is there any possible way to fix it? If I did some research on laser modules do you think I could install a new diode??

Click to expand...

i dont know if it would be worth it. you would need to get a diode press and diode extractor and soldering equipment and a multimeter etc... it wouldn't really be worth it. if you want a nice red laser get one from laserbtb, they make very nice lasers that are always up to or over specification of output power. you could also get one from blord, a member here. heres a link to the list of lasers he sells: http://laserpointerforums.com/f39/sale-501b-lasers-copper-heatsink-80-a-78452.html

if you want to build one there's tons of info on the forums if you need it.

be sure to get the proper laser safety glasses and use it responsibly!

Get a new laser like what Michael said. Those are just cheap mass produce laser so the quality is that bad. It really isn't worth it repairing it.

There's really no point in pursuing anything with this unit. It would be a waste of time and $. Chalk it up to a learning experience and move on. There's many good sources from this forum and reputable manufacturers to choose from. Whats the point in trying over and over when the chances of getting a decent unit for little $ is so poor.